Saturday, November 14, 2009

Erekat: PA may declare state via UN; PM Netanyahu to warn at Sunday speech: Palestinian state only via negotiations

(Ynet).Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat says the Palestinian Authority is making an effort to elicit international support for declaring statehood, Al-Ayyam newspaper reported Saturday.

According to Erekat, the PA intends to promote this issue in order to bring it for a vote at the UN Security Council. The Palestinians are interested in declaring a state in line with the 1967 borders, he said.

"The idea is clear and understandable," he said, adding that "now we mobilize" and criticizing Israel's policies in the West Bank which he said prompted the latest Palestinian effort.

The move would send a message that "settlements and other unilateral actions are null and void and do not establish rights or territory," Erekat said, noting that he spoke about the Palestinian initiative with both American and European officials.

Prime Minister Netanyahu will tell attendees at Saban Forum on Sunday that the solution lays within negotiations. In his speech at the Saban forum in Jerusalem the PM will reject the Palestinian initiative that is increasingly picking up speed. He would warn the Palestinians not to try to advance in, and will highlight the opposition of Israel, claiming that the solution in creating a Palestinian state is only through negotiations with Israel.

President Shimon Peres addressed the night talking with reporters accompanying him to Brazil to allow the Palestinians try to establish a one - sided. "You can not build a country without a peace agreement. It's impossible and it will not work. It is unacceptable that every day they change their minds, irritation is not a policy."